Multiple-vending machine



" able indicator.

Patented Get. 12, 1925.

UNTE STTES PTENT GFFIQE.

WILLIAM C. CU'ILER, 0F GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO ISABELLA C.CUTLER, OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA.

MULTIPLE-VENDING MACHINE.

Application led November 28, 1925.

The present invention relates to vending machines and pertains moreparticularly to selective and multiple vending machines.

One object of the invention is to provide a vending machine in which asingle coin may serve a plurality of vending units so that a purchasermay obtain any selected one of a number of contained articles bydropping a coin in the slot and simultaneously indicating the desiredarticle.

It will be understood in the consideration of this invention that avending ma.1 chine is quite unprofitable unless some provision is madefor detecting and eliminating bogus coins, slugs and other articlescommonly employed for illegally obtaining merchandise from suchmachines. When it is required that several dierent articles be.selectively vended by one machine it is necessary to make a selective ormultiple machine. rIhe selective types of machines embody a single coinslot and a single slug detecting mechanism. In selective machines thereis either a movable magazine or a mov- The magazine, or indicator,

as the case may be, 'is first moved to bring the. desired article intoposition. Then the coin is deposited, and then an operating lever mustbe moved to discharge the contents. chasing an article requires severalmovements on the part of the purchaser. If a plurality of vending unitsare arranged sideby-side a. coin slot and slug eliminator must beemployed forf each vending unit. Such a machine is quite as expensive tobuild as a plurality of singlevending machines.

Another objectY of this invention therefore is to provide a machine inwhich the article may be selected and discharged with less number ofmoves on the part of the purchaser.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a multiple machinewhich embodies a plurality of vending units and ronly one coin slot andslug eliminator, with means whereby a coin deposited in a single slotmay be caused to operate any selected one of the units.

Still other objects and advantages of my invention will appearhereinafter.

I have illustrated my invention by the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment Vof my invention.

The entire act of selecting and pur-l Seral No. 72,048.

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section thereof seen on a line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

Figure 3 is' a View in section thereof seen on a line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Figure i is a view in section thereof seen on a line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

In carrying out my invention in this embodiment I employ a casing 6having a plurality of vertical partitions 7 providing a plurality ofcompartments 8 in which articles 9, to be vended may be arranged instacks. The stacks rest on spaced shelves 10 and the shelves are soarranged that a coin 11 in moving horizontally below a stack of articleswill engage the rear edge of the lowermost article and withdraw it fromunder the others of the stack. Forwar'dly of the casing there isprovided a hood 12 which encloses a chute 13 thru which the articles maygravitate to an opening 14k.

Under each compartment there is provided a coin carriage 15 having acoin holding slot 16. The coin carriage travels over a horizontal wall17 s and over an aperture 18; there being one aperture for eachcompartment and one coin carriage for each compartment. W'hen a coin hasbeen carried to the aperture it falls thru such aperture into anenclosed coin space 19 below the wall 17. By the time that a coin hasreached an aperture 18 it has dislodged the lowermost package of acorresponding stack so that the package slides 4down the chute into thereach of the purchaser.

rI'his arrangement of parts is common to many vending and multiplevending machines, and sucharrangement together with various means toprevent return of the coin while the coin is in place, is well known inthe art and needs no further description to render my invention clear tothose skilled in the art. Y

Each carriage is moved by a pull rod 2O that passes out thru the frontof the machine to terminate in a button 21. In conformance with asalient feature of my invention, altho I am not limited to this feature,I provide for each coin carriage being slightly lower than the one nextpreceeding it. I provide a coin chute 22 leading to a coin tester andslug eliminator 23; the purpose of this eliminator being to detect boguscoins and slugs and prevent them from reaching the coin carriages. Thecoin chute, or more correctly the coin tester, disreach the coin returnopening.

l ing further.

to many other vending machines.

charges into a slightly inclined horizontally directed runway 2li whichruns. behind successive compartments andrterminates in a coin returningslot externally of the casing. Each coin carriage has the coin reAceiving slot and the runway is provided with a lower opening or slot 26above each coin carriage. The slot in each carriage provides for a coinfallingv thru tothe coin carriage. Each carriage also has solid portion27 immediately behind the coin receiving slot. The run way also has acircular -cutaway portion 29 over each coin carriage so that a coinhaving 'fallen into the coi-n `carriage maybe moved i'orwardly withoutinterference from the walls of the runway. Behind eachcairriage thereisa spring 30` which holds thc carriage advanced so that the solidportion oi the carriage comes below the corresponding slot in therun-way. Thus a coin passing thru the coin tester will rundown therun-way; the solid portion oi eachA carriage preventing the coin tromcoming to rest, and eventually the coin will Il any carriage ismovedrearwardly so that the coin receiving slot thereof comes below thecorresponding slotin the runway, a coin will fall into that carriage andwill be held from go- Obviously the coin will stop in the iirst carriagewhich it enters, and will remain there until thc carriage is moved todischarge a package.

To` operate this machine, the purchaser selects the stack from which hedesires an article, by pressing on the button which is below that stack.rIhe contents of the machine are of course visible thru the translucentpanel 32, commonly provided 1n vend# ing machines. At the same time thathe presses thebutton in with one hand he may use his other hand Vtoinsert a coin in the coin slot. Thereby the act of selecting` thearticle and dropping the coin is, practically speaking,V a singleoperation requiring` the use of both hands, and the operation isaccomplishedalmost instantly without appreciable thought or effort.

Assuming that the button which is pressed is that nearest the end of themachine; the coin will fall iirst on the first carriage but will'merelyrebound from that carriage and will startto roll down the inclinedrunway. Successively it will encounter the solid parts i of successivecoin carriages and will con? tinus in its course until it reaches thesaid last carriage, or in any other case until it reaches the iirstcarriage which lhas itsl slot alined with the runway. Now the coins fallinto the slot in the carriage. The purchaser pulls the button outwardly.The coin is carried forwardly by the carriage and it projects above thecarriage and encounters the lowermost package in the manner common Thepackage is discharged and the coin drops in the coin receiving spacefrom which it can be removed only by a person having a key to the doorof said compartment.

Il acoin is placed in the machine without depressing a button it willreturn to the coin returning slot where it may be had by the personplacing the coin in the slot. If a coin is caused to enter a carriage,and said coin is allowed to stay there unbeknown to a subsequentpatronof the machine such coin will not clog the entire machine but willmerely act to direct the next coin to some point beyond it, or to thecoin returning opening.

It will be apparent now `that I have provided a si1nple,`quiclrlyoperated, selective or multiple vending machine in which one cointesting slot will serve a plurality of coinv operated dischargen'iecha-nisms, and whereby any article may be selected, paid for anddischarged all in a short interval-of time and without requiring anyparticularly thoughtful moves on the part of the purchaser, and wherebythe acts of selecting, paying and discharging, are so closely linked asto make it as expedient as if only onemove were made to carry out allsteps of purchasing an article; and

Vvlhile I have shown and described a specilic embodiment of my inventionI do not limit myself to any specilic construction or arrangement ofparts and may alt-er same as I desire without enlarging the scope of myinvention within the appended claims.

1. In a vending machine, a runway adapted to convey a coin and providedwith a plurality of successively arranged openings thru which such coinmay fall, an article delivery coin carriage below each opening normallydisposed to close said opening against a coin; each carriage also being.movable to allow a coin to Ypass thru the opening into the carriage.

2. In a vending. machine, a coin slot provided with a plurality ofsuccessively arranged coin emitting openings, a coin carriage below eachopening, each carriage having a solid portion movable into and out ofregistration with the corresponding coin emitting opening, and eachcarriage having a coin receiving slot disposed to aline with thecorresponding opening` when the solid portion is moved out ofregistration with the corresponding coin emitting opening.

3. In a vending machine, a single coin slot, a runway into which saidslot discharges provided with a plurality of coin emitting apertures,article deliveryl coin carriages, one below each aperture, each.carriage having a solid portion and acoin receiving slot, and eachcarriagebeing mov able to dispose either. its solid portion, or its4slot, into registration with the corresponding coin emitting aperture;for the purpose set forth.

4f. In a vending machine, a single coin slot, a runway into which saidslot discharges provided with a plurality of coin emitting apertures,article delivery coin carriages, one below each aperture, each carriagehaving a solid portion and a coin receiving` slot, and each carriagebeing movable to dispose either its solid portion, or its slot, intoregistration with the corresponding` coin emitting aperture; for thepurpose set forth, a pull-out handle for each coin carriage, and a wallbelow each carriage provided with a slot thru which a coin may fall fromthe slot of said carriage when said carriage is pulled out to bring theslot thereof into registration with the slot in the corresponding` wall.

5. In a vending machine, means for holding a plurality of stacks ofarticles in a lineal arrangement; so that the lowermost article of onestack is below the lowermost article of a preceding staclr, walls, onestepped below the other progressively of the stacks so that there isprovided such a wall a given distance below each stack, coin carriages,one for each wall slidable over the corresponding wall and provided witha vertical coin slot open at both its upper and lower terminationswhereby the wall will act to hold the coin in place in the slot of thecorresponding carriage, each wall provided .with an aperture thru whichthe coin may fall from the slot of the corresponding carriage when theslot is moved into registration with the corresponding` aperture, the

slot in a carriage and the corresponding wall 'below it arranged toco-act to hold a coin so -gage and dislodge the lowermost article of astack as said carriage is moved forwardly toward the correspondingaperture, an inclined runway passing successively behind each stack ofarticles and having a plurality of coin emitting openings one for eachcarriage and so disposed as to allow a coin to fall into the slot of thecorresponding carriage when the slot of said carriage is alinedtherewith; each carriage having a solid portion arranged to prevent acoinv from pass ing thru the corresponding coin emitting opening of thecarriage when same is in normal position, springs, one for each carriage normally holding same in such position that the solid portion ofthe corresponding carriage is registered with the correspond ing coinemitting opening of the runway, and a pull-out handle to each carriage,said handle movable against said spring to aline the slot of thecorresponding carriage with the corresponding coin emitting opening ofthe runway; each handle further movable to move the carriage forwardlyto convey a coin forwardly to dislodge the lowermost article of a stackwhile said coin is being moved into registration with the correspond ingslot in the underlying corresponding wall.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

VILLIAM C. CUTLER.

